OHIO’S NATURAL HISTORY: SERENDIPITOUS WILDFLOWER PEAK

Spring is an exciting and yet also frustrating time of year. After months of dreary, cloudy, cold, rainy and snowy weather, we deeply yearn for sunshine and warmth. Many of us with leanings toward the natural world are eager to see spring wildflowers. An early warm spell catches us off guard, but we are committed to other tasks and cannot find time for woodland walks. Or we plan a day to be afield, and when the calendar turns, the ever present battle of spring between winter and summer bounces back to one of those cold and dreary days! Often it seems our timing cannot win.

As a naturalist, looking months ahead and trying to schedule a public wildflower walk, this dilemma can be even more frustrating. Every spring for the last 33 years I’ve led public hikes along Fort Hill’s Gorge Trail to share the beauty and fascinating ecology and geology of that site with folks. Those hikes can at times offer abundant wildflower displays and I can share the wonders with an enthusiastic group of hikers. Other times, I’ve walked alone in the rain and wind – still enjoying the serenity and peace that a wild area like Fort Hill can offer, but feeling disappointed that the weather had discouraged both the wildflowers and the visitors. Some of those times, the wind howling through the gorge of Fort Hill and the bleak skies with scurrying dark clouds makes one feel like a hobbit on a less than welcomed journey through some darkly enchanted forest.

Sometimes, however, our busy schedules, our calendars and the weather seem to blend perfectly. Wow! What excitement such seemingly rare occurrences bubble into our souls and lift our spirits.

May 4^th this spring was one of those serendipitous happy times. The early morning drive of almost two hours from Columbus started out as cool 58 degrees – but the sun was out and air was warming! By mid-afternoon it was in the mid-70s and balmy. Perhaps due to a few previous cool days, and cool morning, only four visitors joined me.  All were from Cincinnati and three of them had been on my walks before. With nearly 20 species in bloom right in the Fort Hill parking lot, we were all excited and anticipating a glorious day in the rapidly greening woods. While a larger group is always more appreciated by a naturalist’s supervisors (numbers of contacts help justify time and costs), this small group was able to interact in a special way that can never happen in a large group.

The wildflowers did not disappoint us! Three weeks earlier, leading a group for the Arc of Appalachia’s Wildflower Pilgrimage, we found 27 species in bloom. Last year with the early warm spring, by early May many species were past – but this May Fourth was magical. By the end of the day we had observed and recorded 52 species in full bloom – not counting those that had already set seed or were not quite open yet. I’d have to confess that I have had one or two hikes at Fort Hill with a higher count, but those were in the early to mid-1980s, before the explosion of the deer herd impacted what is still a magnificent display of wildflower. Fort Hill may be one of the best displays of spring wildflowers in the state! Sorry, perhaps I’m prejudiced on that opinion.

What were the highlights of the trip? I’m sure that varied with each of hikers and their past experiences and preferences. I’d have to include the Dwarf Crested Iris – which we usually find in one nice large patch, but this year we found three good clusters – one in a place I’ve never seen them before. Then there were several spots with Goldenseal which is always a treat. I think many of my visitors were really thrilled with the Showy Orchis and the Large Yellow Lady’s-slipper orchids – especially these two orchids were found within twenty yards of the best patch of the Dwarf Crested Iris. What a magnificent display for form and color and rarity all in one small area of this huge semi-wilderness area. Another favorite for me is the lone Red Buckeye tree (Aesculus pavia) which was in full bloom and in obvious contrast the more abundant Ohio Buckeye. In her detailed 1969 publication on the ecology and vascular plants of Fort Hill (published by the Ohio Biological Survey) E. Lucy Braun lists only the Ohio Buckeye among her 650 species of herbaceous plants she records. In Braun’s 1961 The Woody Plants of Ohio (Ohio State University Press) she does not even list the Red Buckeye as being found anywhere in Ohio. Even the 2001 publication, Seventh Catalog of the Vascular Plants of Ohio by Cooperrider, Cusick and Kartesz does not list the Red Buckeye as being found among the nearly 3,000 species of plants recorded for Ohio. And yet this tree grows on a low promontory thirty feet above Baker Fork at a spot at least a mile from the closest residence. ODNR botanist Jim McCormac tells me that Red Buckeye grows in Kentucky and so might not be unexpected here in southern Ohio – but it is still a neat find here at Fort Hill.

Fort Hill has 11 miles of hiking trails, and on May Fourth, my group hiked only four – through the gorge of Baker Fork and looping back to our vehicles. At the end of the day, all were tired, but it was a pleasant tiredness full of great memories and photos. As you read this blog, most of the blooms we saw that day will be past. But perhaps you can make a note for next April and early May to schedule a hike through the scenic gorge at Fort Hill. The four folks on my May Fourth hike all urged me to come out of my pending retirement and lead a public wildflower hike next spring at Fort Hill again – so perhaps I’ll follow that thought and you could join us!

To learn more about Fort Hill State Memorial – a National Natural Landmark – go to one of the following web pages. The OHS page is at: http://www.ohiohistory.org/museums-and-historic-sites/museum–historic-sites-by-name/fort-hill/fort-hill  Our partner that handles the daily operation of Fort Hill is the Arc of Appalachia, and they have a great web page at: http://www.arcofappalachia.org/visit/fort-hill.html

For those who wonder what species made up those 52 plants in bloom that we saw, following is my list – in no specific order.

Bob Glotzhober

Senior Curator of Natural History

Fort Hill Blooms Observed May 4, 2013

Trees & Shrubs: Dogwood, Redbud, Pawpaw, Bladdernut, Ohio Buckeye, Red Buckeye, Black-haw (V. prunifolium);

Herbaceous Flowers:  Blue Phlox, Common Blue Violet, Pale Violet, Canada Violet, Yellow Violet, Three-lobed Violet, Walter’s Violet, Green Violet, Golden Ragwort, Golden Alexanders, Bluets, Spring Beauty, Dwarf Larkspur, Early Meadow Rue, Large-flowered Bellwort, Wood Betony, Wood Poppy (Celandine Poppy), Virginia Bluebells, Seneca Snakeroot, Columbine, Smooth Sweet Cicely, Philadelphia Fleabane, White Baneberry (Doll’s Eyes), May Apple, Dandelion, Rue Anemone, Wild Ginger, White Trillium (Large Flowered Trillium),  Drooping Trillium, Wild Geranium, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, Star Chickweed, Swamp Buttercup (Hispid Buttercup), Small-flowered Buttercup (Hooked Crowfoot), Bishop’s Cap, Dwarf Crested Iris, Showy Orchis, Large Yellow Lady’s-slipper, Violet Wood Sorrel, Goldenseal, Squawroot, Solomon’s Seal, Solomon’s Plume, Greek Valerian, Ohio Spiderwort.

Other notes:  We also saw and heard a number of birds, including a large number of Scarlet Tanager’s calling with their “Chick-Burr” notes, and a group of six baby Wood Ducks scurrying up the creek way below us toward the frantic whistle-call of the adult female, which remained concealed.